Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer — for more photos, click on the link below.

Prophets and Outlaws had one of the best Thursday night crowds Thursday (Jan. 8) at Hank’s Texas Grill. It was their second time to play the venue. Matt Boggs, lead singer, laughed when asked if those were all “super fans.” “HaHa, we think ALL of our fans are super!” But he did explain the near-phenomenon by saying, “McKinney (and Hank’s Texas Grill) is only 15 minutes away from my mom and dad’s place, and we have a dinner group of 25 friends and family who go to out each week. They came here (Hank’s) and each brought folks with them.”

Another reason, Boggs said, that could account for the larger-than-usual weeknight crowd is the fan base they’ve built in McKinney over the past two years.

“I wish we could have witnessed the crowd that would have come in had it not been 25 degrees out and a weekday,” again laughed Matt.

Prophets and Outlaws plays, mostly of course, their originals songs, with a few covers thrown in. One of Matt’s favorites — all his life — he explained before the band cut loose on it, was Randy

James Guckenheimer

Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen.” Later, Boggs said “Randy Travis is the man. When I was a kid, growing up on country music, I would dance around and sing to his music all the time.”

Steven Guckenheime, lead guitarist and co-singer, is also co-writer with Matt, and also writes songs on his own. “He is an incredible guitar player and able to write melodies that I could never dream of. My strength is lyrics; so my favorite is when he and I collaborate, like “Soul Shop.”

“Soul Shop” was PAO’s very first song released to the Texas Music Charts and it went to No. 19. The band followed that up with its current single, “Shine On Me,” which is climbing the charts and currently sits at No. 31. Boggs smiled when he explained that the charts are sort of frozen now, because the Christmas vacation is still going on for some. One had to wonder if it could be, also because of The Music Festival going on now in Colorado, but it doesn’t really matter. It’ll be a week or two before the chart numbers change.

Prophets and Outlaws is a team-band, no one acting like the ‘star’ on stage. Others in the band are James Guckenheimer, brother to Stevie; C.J. Thompson on bass; and Jamie “Jelly” Ringholm on all sorts of keyboards.

To learn more about this 5-piece band, which is making treks throughout Texas and way beyond, and watch their tour schedule, go to their Website, ProphetsAndOutlaws.com.

The MJ Blog

Mary Jane Farmer, Texas Nexus, August 2017 It’s a 3-column list I have worked up — “PACK UP” it’s called. It’s what I have to reference and cling to when getting ready to go to all the music festivals in my life. And there’s a bunch! Me and Hippie Van head out. She has clean […]

Because you asked… The Celebrate Austin Music Festival at Zilker Park, circa April 15, 1984, was filled with Austin-based touring acts with generous sprinklings of up-and-comers. A lot of that information is in Rod Kennedy’s book, Music of the Heart, written many years before his 4-14-14 death. It had been a long three-day event, and […]

This was first in Buddy Magazine, August 2016 issue. People ask me a lot — why am I in the music business? OK, I’ll share the secret – it was a guy who got me into all this. While teaching school in El Paso, I met another teacher, a musician, out there and that chance meeting and […]

(I’m sorry, but we got absolutely NO photos of these people.) Ake Pecha — I was told this means “Start fresh, my friend.” It was probably around 1982 when Kerrville Festival Producer Rod Kennedy took a trip to the southeast, where he met a group of travelers from the Scandinavian countries. This was the “International School […]

This took a lot of prayer and thanksgiving for me to write and publish. This was one changing quote in my life… From the movie “Mozart,” this statement by composer Salleri: “Why?… implant the desire (for music)… like a lust in my body? And then deny me the talent?” Early on, I could not figure out myself […]